UNDERSTANDING ADOLESCENTS

The best way is to first understand this stage of life. Here is a very simple explanation of this stage. This stage more or less starts at 11 and goes up to 19 or so years. It is aptly considered as a developmental bridge between childhood and adulthood. During this period, a lot of intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual and social changes occur in adolescents.

Usually this stage is also known as the stage of ‘egocentrism’ or “self-centeredness’’.

Intellectual: They start to understand abstract concepts, become aware of various political, economical social and scientific issues and their impact on the community, country and the world. They develop their own world view and think about solutions to resolve these issues. They challenge and criticize the prevailing views and are eager to test their solutions. They think if the people want, anything is possible.

Emotional: There is a strong urge to search for their identity, separate from their families. In this stage they try to emotionally distance themselves from their families and usually challenge their authority and wish to gain more independence.

Physical: There are a lot of physical and physiological changes occurring in their bodies. These changes are the signs of maturation. There is a lot of curiosity, many questions and also confusion related to their self and the opposite sex. They try to get as much information to understand self and others and based on that information develop views about each other.

Spiritual: As in the case of many other abstract concepts, adolescents usually challenge and question about religious and spiritual beliefs. They test and try to make sense of the importance of religion and spiritualism.

Social: This stage is particularly important for social skills learning. Adolescents usually depend more on their friends for their emotional support. Friends play a very significant role in their lives. They develop long term and strong bonding with one another. They learn, encourage and support one another. They also identify with a role model outside the family and try to inculcate the qualities of their role model. Therefore, this is the stage at which they are liable to be swayed by things considered good and bad by the society.